Bradley Business Center deploys 3xLOGIC infinias CLOUD access control

3xLOGIC announced that the Bradley Business Center, located in Chicago, has installed a 3xLOGIC infinias CLOUD access control system throughout the redevelopment project. HTML Global, an IT Managed Services Provider (MSP), oversaw system installation and continues to provide remote system management.

Bradley Business Center (BBC) is the largest redevelopment project on Chicago's north side, comprising over 500,000 square feet, spread over 22 acres. The BBC offers a unique shared office environment for entrepreneurs and professionals and boasts a wide array of features and amenities.

At present, the 3xLOGIC infinias system manages a total of 43 internal doors throughout the complex, split between BBC-managed doors and those for a tenant company, Compass Health Center. The two organizations manage their own access separately but use some of the same network and PoE switches. BBC doors managed are mainly those controlling common areas and shared amenities— parking, fitness facility, rooftop terrace, and others—but also data rooms and other sensitive areas within the office space. Both organizations do the day-to-day administration of the system, with HTML Global providing back-up and higher-level functions when requested.

"When we started with BBC, they were looking to us for our knowledge base, and we installed a few doors at that time. Then, we built out the system as they added new offices and common areas to be managed," explained William Hunt, Managing Director, HTML Global. "The distributed Ethernet network can easily handle all the doors and that simplified installation and on-going management. The BBC property management staff don’t want a server onsite, so a cloud solution nicely fits their needs. Another advantage for BBC is our RMR services and the fact that a cloud-based system is mainly operating expenses, not hardware capital expenses—that’s economically advantageous for a property management business.”

"There are so many other advantages to a cloud-based system, especially our ability to add doors when any of the resident companies want to join the system, or to expand the number of doors for existing customers—we can add one door or hundreds of doors upon request," said Hunt. "Compass likes the system functionality and ease-of-use so much, they recently expanded it to their Northbrook location, too. That way, when staff move between the two facilities, they only need one set of credentials.”

BBC controls access by zone and/or amenity for each credential holder, administrators can add zones and close access to other zones with a few keystrokes. Door control is granular, making it easy to provide all-areas access to senior staff and highly-limited access, for example, for contractors and temporary workers. Such high-level control and ease of use is accomplished with minimal hardware on site. Many administrators were up and running on the infinias system with very little training, if any.

With a cloud-based access control system, new tenants can join the system with ease, or a tenant can be removed from the system in a matter of minutes. Hunt again, “As an MSP, we are overseeing a system that updates itself automatically, and because BBC management doesn’t have a full-time IT person, that’s where we come in.”

The future looks bright for HTML Global with the Bradley Business Center. Current office space is nearing fully-leased status, and BBC management is looking to expand their property offerings into additional buildings located on the same parcel. Hunt is impressed with another feature of the cloud-based system, "The network is set up on PoE switches, so if a door isn’t acting properly, we can fix things remotely, we don’t need to roll a truck—that's very cost-effective.”